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Hard to imagine, I know: A desert of a place where floods were common, farmland turned to blowing sand and forest fires were nearly a daily occurrence. Growing food on much of this land was more than a challenge, it was downright unproductive. Many natural disasters were accepted as “part of the price” paid for living in a progressive land where the hand of man was free to take trees without thought or consideration to the long-term effects. This was our beloved Ontario about a century ago and, frankly, there really was no plan.

When this land was “opened up,” a settler and his family was required by the Crown to clear the trees off of it, reserving the very best wood (the giant virgin white pines and sycamores) for the government to haul off to Great Britain, where they were valued for use as ship masts and planks. Naïvely, it was thought that this single-minded approach was a good idea. Land was cleared most everywhere, except in the hardest to reach places.

Between 1790 and the early 1900s, Ontario was denuded of all of its existing forests through the efforts of lumbermen and farmers. The results were devastating. Wildlife disappeared, streams and rivers dried up, and sand and top soil blew away.

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In 1904, an ambitious professor from the University of Toronto in forestry proposed to province that it would be a good idea to establish an aggressive replanting program in the marginally productive areas of the province. In fact, he wanted to more than triple the existing tree cover in Southern Ontario. It was an audacious idea and he had a lot of nerve. His name was Edmund Zavitz and his story is worth repeating as, I fear, much of what he did (which was plenty!) is at risk of being forgotten.

A New Currency

In the early days of his work, Zavitz photographed the results of the denudation of the land. Blow sand in Norfolk County and on the Oak Ridges Moraine provided evidence that the absence of giant white and red pines, sycamores, and dense hardwood bush often created desert-like conditions. The prevailing westerly winds exposed the deep roots of the old tree stumps and left them standing like skeletons in the sand with their roots exposed two metres tall.

In one photo, a church stands with its foundation exposed and an adjacent graveyard on a hillside clings to razor-thin top soil, with tumbled-down headstones and caskets all but exposed. As it would turn out, the photographic evidence provided by Zavitz in his early days helped to prove his point that much had to be done to overcome the shortcomings of previous generations, whose activity provided his generation with massive tracts of land that were Sahara-like.

When Zavitz launched his ambitious plan as the newly minted “Chief Forester” to replant up to 30 per cent of the land mass in Southern Ontario, he produced black and white slides from his extensive collection and used them to illustrate his point. He travelled around the province on a public speaking circuit, preaching the merits of reforestation to anyone who would listen.

While many municipal officials did not embrace his message in the beginning, he did succeed in swaying the opinion of many farmers, who considered themselves stewards of the land and understood the thesis that much of the now-barren real estate in the country was never going to be productive for agriculture.

One of the earliest supporters was Mr. Noch, a farmer in Norfolk County and an Ontario Agricultural College graduate. “I am going to leave something behind [when I die] and I would just as soon leave some pines growing as a bank account,” he said. “Zavitz is not afraid to take off his own coat and help do the work.”

The vision that Edmund Zavitz was to develop and (to a large extent) realize is difficult to imagine today. So much of what we take for granted was part of his vision. He provided great influence over the governments between 1912 and 1949. He provided scientifically-based arguments that successive governments understood and, for the most part, supported, crossing political lines between the early Farmers Union Party, the Progressive Conservatives and the Liberals.

His plan and implementation was not without considerable struggle, however. Space here does not allow me to outline the ups and downs of his professional journey — or that of the many fine people that surrounded him. For greater detail, I suggest that you read the new book, Two Billion Trees and Counting, by John Bacher.

I heard Bacher speak at a special meeting of the Toronto Field Naturalists recently and I was intrigued by his story and had to read his book.

While it is not a riveting, fast-paced tome, it does provide a well-researched accounting of Zavitz’s work in a chronology that is easy to follow. In other words, if you have an interest in the “green” pedigree of Ontario, this is a book that you should read.

I strongly suggest that his story should be written into the grade school history books in this province. To ignore the Zavitz story is to deny our forbearers much credit for creating the natural beauty, safety and productivity that we enjoy in our provincial parks, conservation areas, and wide tracts of private land that were forested with his leadership. Coincidentally, one of his most famous protégés was none other than Tommy Thompson, famed Canadian who greatly influenced the Group of Seven.

The Zavitz story provides inspiration for a new generation of tree planters in both urban and rural spaces. Efforts underway to double the tree canopy in Toronto, the GTA and Ottawa seem altogether minor in comparison to the 2 billion trees planted across the province in his time.

Unfinished Job

All of evidence that more trees are needed today has been collected. We have proof that the Zavitz strategy works. Thanks to aggressive tree planting last century, we are seeing the arrival of rare bird species like the red-shouldered hawk and red-headed woodpecker; and there are streams populated with brook trout where there were none a century ago.

The flooding of our towns and cities came to an all but complete stop due to the Zavitz tree-planting plan. Forest fires were reduced dramatically through proper forest management, and streams and rivers returned to their once gloriously productive state. Once trees were re-established in the head waters of the Don, Credit, Ganaraska rivers, and many other natural waterways, life became normal once again.

The work of Edmund Zavitz stretched well north of Cochrane and east of Ottawa. He even provided the resources for the replanting of trees in Rockwood in Ottawa, just a few kilometres from 24 Sussex Dr., of official home of the prime minister. By doing so he provided long-term proof that well-treed neighbourhoods are considerably more valuable than ones that are devoid thereof.

Don’t Judge

When we hear of the denuding of tropical rain forests in South America, it is tempting to take a judgmental view as we sit smugly in the midst of a recently reforested province. It is important to reflect on how different this scenario would be today had it not been for Edmund Zavitz and his ambitious and thoughtful scientific approach to a renewed landscape in virtually every corner of the province.

The next time you thank a tree for providing a much finer place to live, work, and play, be sure to provide a nod to Edmund Zavitz. The father of reforestation in Ontario.

•Two Billion Trees and Counting: The Legacy of Edmund Zavitz by John Bacher, Dundurn Press, $26.99.

Question of the Week

Q: I planted a sweet potato vine in a hanging basket this summer. Is it possible to store this plant until next spring?

A: Ornamental sweet potato vine (Ipomoea batatas) grows from a tuber. Dig up the tuber once the plant experiences the first frost and store it in a cool, dark and dry location for the winter. Pot up the tuber indoors next April for an early start.

Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author and broadcaster. You can sign up for his free monthly newsletter at markcullen.com, and watch him on CTV Canada AM every Wednesday at 8:45 a.m. You can reach Mark through the “contact” button on his website and follow him on Twitter @MarkCullen4 and Facebook. Mark’s latest book, Canadian Lawn & Garden Secrets, is available at Home Hardware and all major bookstores.

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